---
title: By what agency was the tangled skein finally disentangled? — Blue Fairy Book, Graciosa and Percinet… · tree and pragmatics
description: By what agency was the tangled skein finally disentangled? Exam question 3 of lesson 1543 «Blue Fairy Book, Graciosa and Percinet, part 40: Graciosa tricks the Queen with the thread, then faces a barrel of mixed-up feathers» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and 
---

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# Exam question 3 · Blue Fairy Book, Graciosa and Percinet, part 40: Graciosa…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By what agency was the tangled skein finally disentangled?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** agency · **What happens:** be, disentangle · **To what, where:** tangled skein

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This is exam question 3 of lesson 1543 «Blue Fairy Book, Graciosa and Percinet, part 40: Graciosa tricks the Queen with the thread, then faces a barrel of mixed-up feathers» of the books course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/1543-pg540-part40/#e3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1543-pg540-part40:e3:1
# text = By what agency was the tangled skein finally disentangled?
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
3	agency	agency	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	tangled	tangled	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	skein	skein	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	acl:relcl	_	_
8	finally	finally	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	disentangled	disentangle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | agency | the tangled skein |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **disentangle** | participle |  | the tangled skein *not said here* |  |  |  | finally *property* | vn separate-23.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By a knife

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1543-pg540-part40:e3:o1:1
# text = By a knife
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
With a silver comb

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1543-pg540-part40:e3:o2:1
# text = With a silver comb
1	With	with	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	silver	silver	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	comb	comb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By the old Fairy's hand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1543-pg540-part40:e3:o3:1
# text = By the old Fairy's hand
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	Fairy	Fairy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By the Prince's wand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1543-pg540-part40:e3:o4:1
# text = By the Prince's wand
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	wand	wand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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- ← previous: [Blue Fairy Book, Graciosa and Percinet…, exam 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1543-pg540-part40/e2/)
- next →: [Blue Fairy Book, Graciosa and Percinet…, exam 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1543-pg540-part40/e4/)
- ↑ back to [Blue Fairy Book, Graciosa and Percinet, part 40: Graciosa tricks the Queen with the thread, then faces a barrel of mixed-up feathers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1543-pg540-part40/)